I’m just back from the glass show at Travers Gallery. If you’re expecting traditional Muranese glass, such as strings of kaleidoscopic beads or shelves filled with fancy vases, you would be in the wrong place. These pieces are abstract and purely decorative. Four or five artists were represented. Here are my thoughts on two of them:

Lino Tagliapietra is well known in these parts. Breaking with Muranese tradition, he moved here to the Northwest and started revealing the secrets of the craft at Dale Chihuly’s Pilchuck Glass School. You can see his influence on the scene; like much of Chihuly’s work, his pieces at the Travers Gallery seem inspired by exotic creatures that might be found under the sea or under a microscope.

Another artist whose work fascinated me was Silvano Rubino. Rubino works with master glass sculptors in Murano who blow the glass, which he subsequently carves. This collection’s black and tan pieces have been engraved with geometric designs that remind me of Native American pottery. I have no idea where he gets his ideas, but if Rubino has spent time on a New Mexican pueblo, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.

Be sure to get down to gallery to catch this show soon. It ends September 9.

Josh

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